Text processing systems may, in general, be characterized as digital data processing systems with limited processing and storage facilities, but good operator interactive facilities, whereby text entered into the system by a keyboard can be manipulated by reference to a display. Preferably they include high quality printing arrangements. One such system is the Displaywriter System which is marketed by International Business Machines Corporation.
The basic function of such is to produce documents, but, as they are arranged for operator interaction, such documents are prepared, displayed and if necessary modified and corrected before printing. In addition, many now include communications facilities which allow documents to be transmitted to other locations in the form of digital data. Such transmissions may be of an interactive on-line type to enable single message conversational interconnection of systems and their operators or of the batch processing type in which a number of documents or messages are transmitted in a single operation. The present invention relates to the latter type of operation, which in the context of text processors is called `electronic data distribution` or often `electronic mail`.
In order to prepare for batch communication, the documents for transmission have to be identified and ordered prior to transmission in order to effect orderly and efficient operation during a transmission session. Thus, the operator has to enter a number of factors, such as those relating to the address or addresses of the recipients, the communication controls identifying the line types, the transmission mode, and a queue of document names and their location within the system. This can take time.
A problem arises when, during the preparation for transmission, the operator needs to perform a further task on the system. Due to the fact that RAM storage in text processing systems is limited in size, each task when entered, overlays the task previously entered into storage. Thus data relating to the previous task is lost. Thus, the operator has the choice either of exiting from the communications task to process the new task and thereafter starting the communications preparation again or finishing the communications task before starting the new task.